The third unit is a leased GP9 from PNC (Precision National) of QNS&L heritage and paint. CPR had a number on lease in that era.
CX 500 - Great, thanks for that.
Thank You
4055_4471 on the shop track Nelson diesel shop. 8/1969 Mac Owen Collection/Joseph Testagrose Collection
Note: The lack of the Beaver Emblem on the nose ...means that the steam generator has been removed and is no longer used for passenger service.
Would make a good question for Classic Trains quiz!
4104 freshly painted in Script lettering. CLC 2726 4/1954 Retired 6/1975 Preserved in operating condition.
The lack of the beaver emblem on A-units had nothing to do with passenger service, but merely reflects that after the maroon and grey was replaced by action red and the multimark, they gradually disappeared from the noses. I understand this was not done officially, and in some cases may have been done by shop forces looking for souvenirs of the old scheme. In addition, the C-Liners had smaller doors which meant the end of the tail and the bottom of the shield were each separate pieces. If they were damaged after a grade crossing accident or slide and were from a now-obsolete scheme, it was an easy choice to not replace them. All A-units originally carried beavers, even those that never had steam generators.
You are perhaps confusing the A-units with the road switchers, where indeed only those equipped with steam generators carried a beaver shield on the nose, starting in the mid-1950s. Like the A-units, the beavers disappeared after the multimark was introduced in 1968, even if the unit itself was not repainted until some years later. Certain series of RS-10s, GP9s, H-16-44s and H-24-66s carried them.
Here is another for NDG- close to your home territory I presume.
Canadian Pacific Railway
Fairbanks-Morse H16-44 1600 hp 75 mph road switchers built by CLC. 8547-8556 (10) equipped with Westinghouse traction motors.8601-8610 (10) 8709-8728 (20) equipped with GE traction motors.
8605 in Tuscan red and grey sits between 8724 and 8726 also H16-44 units in new Action Redwith CP Rail Multimark. Shop track Nelson, BC June 1973 Robert Jordan
Thank You.
Regarding the Goat River Bridge- Does anyone know why it was built in this manner? It seems unusual.
It's a wooden truss that's clad with wood to keep the truss members from rotting. Technically a 'covered bridge' but a deck truss rather than the usual through truss. It's much cheaper and easier to replace the sides than the structural bits. Covered bridges used to be fairly common in the Northwest.
Fairbanks Morse, thru it's licensing with the Canadian Locomotive Company, CLC, in Kingston, Ontario, did OK in Canada overall. Same sort of thing for Alco, thru it's subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works in Montreal, which hung on much longer and produced more units than Kingston. Both of these manufacturers can attribute their success, at least somewhat, to political doings by government at the time. Fairness in distributing contracts, equalizing things between Ontario and Quebec, that sort of thing. EMD built their new plant in London as a wholly owned subsidiary and of course did very well, but never completely dominated as they did stateside. For some time Alco was the big man.
Fairbanks Morse had a smaller share of the market and did not make it past the first rounds yet dominated in certain areas as NDG has reminded us.
It is sobering to think of all the long time builders of steam locomotives ( and electric!) and their role in nation building and their importance in industry, vanishing from existence.
Lima, Baldwin, FM, Alco, MLW, CLC, all did an admirable job in switching over from steam to Diesel in a short period of time. It was a short period of great diversity in most places...but now even the original #1 builder, by far, is gone.
Nothing new here for most of us, just thinking out loud.
Too many look alike F's and E's ...at least FM/CLC and Alco/MLW and Baldwin tried to come up with a look with the cab units but I suppose there is only so much one can do.
Wonder how Sharks would have have done up here? Passenger Sharks ( Bp20's) in Montreal commuter service? Maybe D&H gave us some insight with their late acquisition of freight sharks.
Well here's to diversity that is now long gone, in museums and hidden in barns.
One very last comment...in case anyone thinks I'm going soft on Diesels...they were still the invaders and very much soul less things, inevitable I suppose but hold little to no charm for me whatsoever. They went hand in hand with the diminishing role of railroading in every day life, passenger service, small towns, the central and vital role the railroads held in everyday life. I can tolerate the very first of them, when there was differing units in small batches along steam.
A poison pill, sold to the railroads to undo the Niagaras and T1's, Northerns, Hudsons and what was to come yet.
If the business volume for the line was there - Omnitrax would have the damage repaired by now. They are making a business decision in not calling 'all hands on deck' to get the repairs made, Churchill doesn't mean much to their business plan, but Churchill's business means everything to those in Churchill.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD is correct. If this was a UP main or any profitable route it would be put back together pronto. This however goes beyond profit issues. It is strategic in importance and vital to the very survival of many communities, even the entire Northern sector of Manitoba.
Hopefully common sense will prevail. I like the idea of Native owned and operated with funding and support by Provincial and Federal Governments. Failing that, then hold your nose, back to government ownership. Like the Post Office is any worse?
This line could be made quite profitable in time given the proper attitudes, marketing and can do spirit. At worst it could be run at a break even. The line is built, the history is there, the Port exists. It is still in a nation-building role
Step back and look at the big picture...here in Canada we have a population of 35 million living on the 2nd largest country on the planet, a whole continent for Pete's sake, bordering 3 oceans with the most prosperous and best country in the whole world as our sole neighbour and we have 40%, an obscene amount, of the worlds known resources...just what the blazes is the problem! I'm so tired of this race to the bottom and !% stuff, enough already.
Would this be an ideal location to use helicopters and drones ?
1,200 miles of nothing but muskeg and small settlements to the Arctic watershed. 700 miles as the crow flies from Winnipeg with a long cold windy winter Sept-June. Derigibles would be possible for large cargo.
Train/Railroad best by a mile.
Miningman 1,200 miles of nothing but muskeg and small settlements to the Arctic watershed. 700 miles as the crow flies from Winnipeg with a long cold windy winter Sept-June. Derigibles would be possible for large cargo. Train/Railroad best by a mile.
If you look at a globe rather than using the distorted projection on the usual two dimensional representation of the world, the route makes a great deal of sense. Grain and other commodities from the Prairie provinces reach tidewater in a significantly shorter distance, and the rest of the way by ship to Europe is very comparable with distances from the eastern seaboard. If you are talking convoluted route, shipping through the Great Lakes and the St.Lawrence Seaway is a prime example with added restriction of canals and locks. Both routes freeze in winter; both are open during the prime harvest period.
The elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board by a previous government is at the heart of Churchill's current problem. It may be the best option for the farmers, but the big grain companies who now have nearly complete control of the grain handling will route only to their own terminal elevators, and the one at Churchill is owned independently by Omnitrax. That is compounded by CN & CP much preferring to haul only unit trains from the big inland elevators of those same grain companies, and of course happy to get a much longer rail haul out of it.
This is the wrong way to go about a merger.
Where is our department of D-Fence?
All steam locomotives go to heaven, Diesels no way. Not sure about caboose's.
Winnipeg Free Press: "Our northern First Nations have the capacity to fix the tracks and will not require 10 months,'' Ted Bland, York Factory First Nation Chief and chair of the Keewatin Tribal Council, told a news conference Friday.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/northern-first-nations-offer-to-repair-damaged-rail-line-to-churchill-before-winter-430396603.html
Miningman All steam locomotives go to heaven, Diesels no way. Not sure about caboose's.
Wanswheel- Thank you Thank you Thank you....I have forwarded this to at least 50 people this am. Terrific stuff.
A skip is for muck..(.broken rock or ore), a cage is for people and supplies, but not at the same time. Some American mines call the cage the skip, which is confusing. Especially in Idaho. No biggie. The cage and the skip are in counterweight with each other or have their own individual counter weights, depending how large they are.
2 kinds of hoisting systems... Drum Hoist, which is what you rode, one rope ( not a rope, steel cables, but called a rope or ropes), winding around a drum like a yo-yo, in and out, with safety dogs on the cage that snap out and dig into the timber shaft lining if the rope goes slack. Tested every week. Called a drop test. Timbers have to be replaced by the Shaft crew...has to be BC Fir by law. All across Canada.
Other system is a Kope Hoist, ( pronounced Co-Pee) which has multiple ropes that sling around a drum and fall off down the shaft... they do not wind around. It is operated by braking in counterbalance...release the brakes and down she goes, the counterweight goes up ...lock it...reverse...release the brakes counterweight and down she goes and up comes the one you just sent down.
Kope Hoist's have round cyclindical concrete lined shafts. Developed initially by the Swedes, who only think they know how to mine, we are #1, followed by the Finns. I will give the Americans #3 unless they are mining with us, then they are #1 as well. The Kope can be notorious for slipping a bit after locked, scare the beejeez's out of you, require heavy 24/7 maintenance and have usually 5 ropes or more. No dogs.
Modern day mining has seen great advancements in safety, working conditions, actual mining, and the social aspects of what occurs when the mine actually shuts down. Fly in Mining Camps are preferred rather than trying to build a town anymore but places like Timmins and Sudbury are well established towns now, but they will diminish. So many towns became ghostly relics after years and years. Cobalt has never recovered as many others. The new Lalor Mine, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting, Snow Lake, Manitoba has resurrected the ghost town of Snow Lake, a rare occurance, with a solid plan in place to assure these things do not occur again.
Our Uranium and Gold Mines up here are all fly in camps...2 weeks in 2 weeks out for most, 12 hour days...some positions are 3 and 3. More and more automation and remote operations...some operators can be a thousands of miles away in Vancouver or Toronto mucking out a round by remote control scoop tram and video screen.
Interesting social aspects to all these fly in camps as folks develop what they call "camp wives" ...someone you eventually eat together with and just hang with during off hours for 2 weeks. Hmmmm.
Even an underground surveying team can be replaced with "just a guy" who brings down the tripod and the instrument, (called a total station) plunks it down. It then levels itself, finds it own backsight, shoots off the angles, picks up the tope by laser, sends a signal to surface which prints it and displays on a screen while the engineer or head surveyor is having a coffee and discussing last nights hockey game while arguing with the Geologists.
Alas, nothing quite yet so elaborate for the Geologists..we still have to walk up to the face and map the back and grade the muckpile. They are working on it but have my doubts on that one. Same goes for field exploration, but drones are working out well for scouting and revealing structure. Still need boots on the ground and mapping. Minerology is very complex and identifying rock types and all the nuances is best done by a human, at least so far.
MiningmanInteresting social aspects to all these fly in camps as folks develop what they call "camp wives" ...someone you eventually eat together with and just hang with during off hours for 2 weeks. Hmmmm.
Is that akin to the camp followers of the Army of the Potomac under "Fightin' Joe" Hooker, aka, hookers? [If I were Wanswheel, I'd post a long newspaper article from the spring of 1863 about the latter.]
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Good one Schlimm...some points for you!
Senior class Grads this year in Mine Engineering were 3 Male, 3 Female. Increasingly more from the Distaff side at the Mines...Mine Techs, Mill Operators, all aspects of the industry. Hard core "Miners", drill, load, blast, requiring serious upper body strength and stamina is still very much the domain of the men.
For a very long time I found it difficult to understand why any women would want to work underground. There are still many "poor-boy" mines out there and a lot of traditional workings but many mines today underground resemble paved highways and shopping malls...spacious, lighting everywhere, even traffic lights! Its like a subterranean city, including real honest to gosh washrooms.
In Uranium mining everything is concrete or shotcreted 2 feet thick to shield against Gamma Radiation and keeps back water seepage which brings along the dreaded Radon Daughters. Better training, education and safety equipment has all but eliminated Alpha and Beta radiation. As I tell my students, "Don't lick the rocks!" A person will get more exposure walking down a sidewalk on a summers day.
Our Cigar Lake Mine, the newest, is all massive cylindrical pre fabricated structures that they install as they go..it's more like a space station than a mine. Mining is by Jet Water Drills. All very high tech. Broken high grade uranium ore is vacuumed up in a slurry to holding tanks in a "train", which contains the drill, the holding tanks, and a "ladder" which allows the actual track for the drill to extend vertically as it blasts through. There are 32 of these complete trainsets.
So the ladies have staked their claim in it all. If you are hundreds of miles away in an isolated mining camp with a 50-50 mix of the sexes for 2 weeks at a time things inevitably occur.
Your expertise in these areas of the human condition could shed some valuable insight into all of this.
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